“A conduction it is, then. Nonsexual, of course,” she said, feeling to need to restate her stance. “Let’s get to it.”
Adam stood and moved the coffee table, then pulled the armchair over to face her. “This might be more intense than the first one,” he warned, settling into the chair. “The energies tend to accumulate and build over time.”
Just what she wanted to hear. “I’m putting you in charge of damage control,” she said. “Or maybe that should be energy control.”
“I’ll handle it. You know I won’t allow anything to happen to you, Julia.” That intense, predatory look was in his eyes again, making her very uncomfortable.
Despite the fact she knew he could be devious and manipulative, could yank any number of chains with her, she did trust him. He would protect her, with his life if necessary. It was a sobering reality.
“I know,” she said. “So do your shielding and let’s get this done.”
He pulled out the pendant, wrapped his fingers around it. His harsh voice rumbled out words in a beautiful and compelling language. Strange, but she could swear she felt her body moving like the rise and fall of waves. She also thought she could see the air around him growing brighter, could feel the currents around both of them warming like a caress.
He held out his hands, palm up. She placed hers palm down over his. His fingers entwined with hers, and immediately she felt the first energy surge. Assault was a more accurate description. It felt like molten lava was pouring into her vagina and spewing upward through her abdomen and midriff. Burning sexual need inundated her body.
“Easy now,” Adam soothed. “The initial surge is always the hardest. The four lower chakras are open.”
Like being blasted by dynamite, Julia thought, her body throbbing with need. She could only hold on as the burning sensation spread to her chest, her throat, and her head. Colors began flashing behind her eyelids, a rainbow spectrum far more intense than last time.
Excruciating pressure built behind her forehead, then exploded in a vivid indigo color that bled slowly down her line of vision. She wondered that her head didn’t explode at the same time.
“We’re in,” Adam said. “All the chakras are open.” The color shifted to a deep blue; she felt some sort of click in her head.
“Third eye engaged,” he said. “Ah, here come the images.”
She tightened her grip as pictures began flashing by. Two men, waiting in a line of people. One had chin-length wavy blond hair. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week. His eyes were strange, kind of glittering. The second man had brown hair and was ordinary looking. He was taller and thinner, wearing a trench coat, and walked stiffly, like something was wrong with his body.
“This is interesting,” Adam murmured. “So clear.”
She couldn’t respond; her throat was too constricted as the images filled her mind. The brown-haired man in the trench coat was climbing a ladder up the side of some sort of structure. Then he was taking out a gun from beneath the coat and unfolding the stock . . .
A tsunami wave of desire rushed through her, derailing her focus. She found it necessary to let go of all mental control, to just let the images rip past and not try to decipher them. But that didn’t ease the clawing sexual need. She was wet between her legs, and her breasts felt full and achy. Her skin felt too tight, as if it would split open if she didn’t find a physical release.
“Hang on,” Adam murmured. “Just a little more.”
Water, way down below . . . a beautiful expanse of blue in a man-made pool of some sort. Silver flashes in the air above the water. The barrel of a gun pointing downward, the view through the gunsight . . .
The image winked off into darkness. Gone so suddenly, she jolted. The gray clouding her vision swirled away like a windblown mist.
“Don’t let go yet,” Adam told her. “I’m going to channel off as much energy as I can.”
She felt the psychic energy ebbing away, felt the odd after-tingling in her muscles. Its departure didn’t do a thing for the lust still raging through her body. She rubbed her forehead, where a nasty headache was gathering.
“I think I had a vision during the conduction, like last time,” she said.
Adam moved to sit beside her, placed his hands on each side of her face, and she felt the pain in her head easing. “Yes, you did. And again, I saw it with you.”
“Dolphins,” she said, as her mind cleared and refocused. “I saw dolphins.”
“Yes. We know where he’s going next.” Dropping his hands, he pulled out his phone.
It rang before he could dial. He put it to his ear. “Sean. I was about to call you. We think we know where the next attack will be . . . Yes, that’s what we’re guessing. How did you know? I see. Let’s move out then. Meet us in the hallway.”
He clicked off and looked at Julia. “Miriam’s pendulum just gave a positive response on the location for the next Belian attack. It correlates with what we saw. Let’s get going.”
HE felt as if he were watching himself from a distance. Nothing seemed real. He was walking at a right angle from the entrance, and along the side of a stadium. He felt the weight beneath his trench coat, marveled at the technology that could create a weapon that could be collapsed into such a short length and still be so deadly.
“Hurry,” Matt’s voice urged him. “Your job is very important, and there’s not much time.”
He couldn’t really feel his body. It was like he was floating a few inches off the ground. Maybe he was dreaming . . . “Here,” Matt told him. “See the ladder built into the wall? You have to go up there. You have to do your job.”
His body seemed to move of its own volition, and he went to the ladder, started up steadily. Yeah. This was it. He had a job to do.
OFF-SEASON didn’t appear to have affected the attendance at SeaWorld. At eleven thirty in the morning, the lines were long. With Sean beside him, and Julia and Miriam right behind, Adam pushed through the people waiting for tickets.
“This is an emergency. Let us through,” he called out, also using mental compulsion to make people step aside. Sean was doing the same.
But some people were slow to react, and some simply refused to move. There were a lot of children around, which required more cautious movement. Damn! He didn’t know how much time they had, but feared it wasn’t much.
He’d called his contact at the San Antonio Police Department, and they’d decided to go with an anonymous tip that there might be an attack at SeaWorld. After the Riverwalk shooting last night, the police should be quick to respond.
Adam hoped it would be soon enough.
HE reached the top of the ladder, with the incessant voice in his head. He had a job to do—vital and important. The roof fanned out into a wedge shape and angled up slightly. He found himself on a concrete catwalk that had a pipe railing along the outer sides.
He lay down and bellied his way forward until the catwalk intersected in the vee of two other catwalks coming in from either side. He scooted to the very end of the vee, looked down. He was about fifty feet up, in what was obviously a maintenance area of the stadium. Below, directly across from him, dozens of people were settling into seats.
“They are the enemy,” the voice insisted. “They must be executed.”
He scrabbled back out of sight, picked up the gun, and unfolded the stock and popped out the sights and the tripod.
ADAM looked around. Which way to go? The park was huge, and the Belian could be anywhere. He stopped by the magnificent fountain near the Clydesdale Hamlet, turned to Sean. “See if you can pick up anything.”
He flared out his own senses, felt the faintest trace of energy. The Belian had come through here. But when, and which direction had it gone? Matt, he thought, now would be a good time to help me out here.
But it was wishful thinking and nonproductive. As was his concern about how Sean would handle things if they came face-to-face with the Belian and/or Matt. But at this point, he needed all the help he
could get.
He turned to the others. “If Julia’s vision was accurate, we have to assume that the crime scene will be higher up, requiring a climb up a ladder. So we’ll split up and check the highest structures here. Leave the rides for now, and focus on buildings. Sean, if you come across Matt, let me know immediately through the radio phone. I don’t expect you to confront him, unless you have to take crucial countermeasures. Are we clear on that?”
His expression tight and solemn, Sean nodded. “Yes.”
Adam consulted the SeaWorld map he’d picked up. “Then you and Miriam go to the left and toward the stadium where they have the Cannery Row Caper. Julia and I will go right, toward the dolphin and whale shows.”
He glanced over his shoulder, saw police officers coming through the entrance. “Looks like we have reinforcements. Let’s move quickly and see if we can handle this without them.”
Julia made no comment as he took her arm and moved her rapidly toward the closest stadium. He could feel her pulse pounding beneath his hand, knew she had to be apprehensive. As well she should be.
“I want you to tell me if you see any landmarks or signs from your vision,” he told her. “That’s the only reason you and Miriam are with us—to ensure we locate the Belian. But once we do—”
“Yes, yes, I know. You’ve already told me at least two other times now. Get away, remove myself from all possible danger, let you do your job, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
She might be nervous, but she was vintage Julia—which meant she might be obstinate. “Exactly right,” he said. “And exactly what I expect you to do, Julia. I mean it. Your presence would not only endanger your life, but it could distract me. It will require my full attention to take down this Belian.”
“Is that why you sent Sean in the other direction?” She gave him a sober look. “The odds are high that we’ve pin-pointed the most likely site for a Belian attack. I can only assume you’ve sent Sean to check elsewhere to protect him.”
She was too astute at times, but there was no reason to lie to her. “Not to protect him, exactly. He’s very capable of taking care of himself. But I don’t know if he’d be able to fight Matt—or a Belian that looks like Matt. He could become a liability, which would make my job even harder.”
She nodded. “I tend to agree with you.”
So now he’d set the stage and done all he could to protect those in his charge and give himself a clear shot at the Belian. He was prepared to give it his all.
He just didn’t know if he or anyone else could stop this thing.
THE show had started, with blaring music and swirls of color as the human performers exploded into action. Then the dolphins burst out of the water in graceful, amazingly high arcs, and the audience went wild.
“Do your job!” the voice said inside his mind.
But snatches of clarity made him pause, and he stared over the gunsights at all the people below. Emily liked the dolphins. Hadn’t he brought her here?
“They are the enemy!” the voice screamed in his head. “Execute them!”
His thoughts blurred and once again, he felt like he was dreaming. Of its own volition, his finger slid over the trigger. Squeezed.
And squeezed again and again.
ADAM heard the shots coming from the stadium, knew that they were already too late. “Find a safe place to take cover,” he yelled at Julia. Then he took off, ramping up to superhuman speed.
Thinking of her vision, he raced to the rear of the stadium, looking for a ladder. He saw Matt, standing by the rungs attached to the building. Matt was looking up the structure with a glittering gaze. Adam had no doubt the Belian was in control and had some sort of mental lock on the shooter at the top.
“Matt!” he yelled, hoping to distract him. He felt a faint surge of Matt’s consciousness as the man turned toward him and blinked.
But it was the Belian that quickly rebounded and drew a gun from inside its leather jacket. Lightning quick, Adam dropped and rolled, pulling his own weapon. A bullet hit the ground inches from his head. He raised his weapon to return fire. His arm jolted suddenly to the side, his shot going wild. The gun was wrenched from his hand. Stunned, he realized the Belian had mentally manipulated his arm and the gun, a feat which should have been impossible on a Sanctioned.
Adam rolled the other way as another shot barely missed him. Leaping to his feet in a blur, he charged Matt, taking him down. They grappled, Adam trying to keep its gun turned away. But the Belian was incredibly strong, matching Adam’s strength.
Adam managed to get his left arm free, smashed the Belian’s nose. It screamed and he used the distraction to pound its gun hand against the ground, forcing the weapon loose. It wrenched its other arm free and punched him in the jaw. He gritted through the pain, plowed his fist into its gut.
They struggled, deadlocked, slipping in the blood pouring from the Belian’s nose. Its strength was alarming. They pounded at each other, the blows hard and brutal. Rolling, the Belian managed to pin Adam. He stared up into eyes that glowed with madness. “Matt,” he gasped. “Get control.”
The eyes flickered, and for a moment there was sanity there. Then hatred and fury flashed in them. Pain exploded in Adam’s head as something smashed against it. For a moment he was totally disoriented and at the mercy of the Belian.
“You bastard!” Julia shrieked from somewhere nearby. What the hell was she doing there? A loud whap indicated she’d hit something with her cane. Most likely the Belian.
It roared like the animal it was. Taking advantage of the distraction, Adam landed several punches to its face, hitting the smashed nose again. It twisted away and he kicked free. He tried to roll up and defend Julia, knowing it would go after her. But waves of agony and dizziness knocked him back.
“Julia!” He forced himself upright, scrambled for his gun a few feet away. Tried to clear his vision. Saw two Ju lias looking back at him.
“You’re bleeding,” she said. “Lie back down.”
“It’s mainly the Belian’s blood,” he managed. “Where did it go?”
She gestured to a blurry group of police coming their way. “He saw them and took off. Are you all right?”
“Sure,” he said, as his legs gave out, and he slid to the ground.
FOURTEEN
“I really don’t have time for this,” Adam told the ER doctor as she picked up a syringe with a local anesthetic. “I have to speak with the police. Besides, there are a lot of people more seriously injured than I am.”
“There weren’t many survivors of the shooting,” Dr. Meyers said. “And they’ve been taken to the trauma units at University Hospital and Brooke Army Medical Center. You got the Baptists.”
She rubbed antiseptic on the gash, ignoring his wince. “You need stitches before you go anywhere,” she added firmly. “And although your CT scan came back normal, I’m fairly certain you have a concussion. You were unconscious for several minutes.”
Adam scowled at Julia, who had readily provided this information, despite his warning glares at her. She smiled back sweetly, her own anger simmering beneath the surface. It was preferable to the fear. The fight itself, and then the Belian grabbing a nearby pipe and smashing it into Adam’s skull, had scared ten years off her life. She’d hit the Belian in the head with her cane as hard as she could. Then she’d felt new terror as the Belian started toward her, until it saw the police and took off. Adam had indeed passed out for several minutes.
But he’d been his usual arrogant self when he regained consciousness. He’d been furious with her for not taking cover, instead staying close and risking her life. She’d been just as furious at him for being a general idiot. And at herself for caring so damned much. She didn’t need to have feelings for Adam. Emotional involvement with him was a dead end.
Yet focusing on him instead of the grisly scenario inside the stadium had helped her keep her sanity. She couldn’t do anything—not a damned thing—for the latest victims of a twisted monster, and it made her sick
inside. But she could throw her energy into seeing that Adam was all right.
He’d been forced to go the emergency room, or raise unwanted questions. Given a little time and a chance to go into a meditative trance, he could have healed himself, but not with police, SeaWorld security, and emergency personnel all witnesses to his injuries.
Since he couldn’t get out of treatment, she’d felt justified telling the doctor he’d been unconscious. He might be able to self-heal, but she was more comfortable with a scientifically based form of medicine and wanted to ensure he made a full recovery.
“You’re lucky your other injuries aren’t serious,” the doctor continued, starting the sutures. “Your orbital socket is still intact, although you’re going to have a heck of a shiner. Those cracked ribs aren’t going to feel so good, either.”
Julia felt a little guilty that Adam was probably experiencing a lot of pain, because Sentinels had such fast me tabolisms that anesthetics and painkillers broke down in their bodies too quickly to offer much relief. Fortunately, it appeared he had enough control over his body to block the pain of being stitched up.
He continued glaring at Julia as the doctor pulled the thread through the gash. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Seeing you get what you deserve is a rare and entertaining occurrence,” she said, then sobered. “However, knowing that so many people are dead because of the shooting today makes this an awful day.”
His expression turned even grimmer. She wondered if the Belian knew its life expectancy was now markedly shorter, because she’d certainly put her money on Adam. He might be a pain in the rear, but he took his responsibilities very seriously and had the tenacity of a pit bull.
Just then, two detectives came into the curtained alcove, showed their badges to Adam and Dr. Meyers. “Almost done here? We need to ask you some questions about today,” one of them, a tall, beefy man with graying hair, told Adam. Julia sighed and leaned against the wall to ease her leg. It was going to be a very long day.
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